That's a lovely sentiment, that there's no reason I can't have what I want. In reality, though, there are many reasons why I can't have what I want, and when you casually dismiss those reasons as unimportant, the message I hear is a patronizing "You don't really have problems, my dear, you just think you do", which is not what I think you intended to say. As for the books, I was sufficiently underwhelmed that I do not recall titles or authors. Thanks for the video but I get as embarrassed trying to watch such things as I would trying to make one, so I doubt I shall watch it even when I get to a computer on which that is a possibility.

Also, I think you may have misunderstood the idea of the guest blog posts. The main focus of such a post would not be to sell books, but to discuss the topic around which the blog is generally focused from my own point of view. If people enjoy what I have to say, they might choose to follow my links and purchase my writing.

Ouch. I might need some aloe vera after that. In a random order:

You’re talking about one of two things. Writing essays for other people’s blogs, or letting others interview you. If that doesn’t make the best course of action obvious, I don’t know what does.

Underwhelming books… for me, anything by David Webber. Green Rider. Wuthering Heights. The Cryptonomicon. I usually don’t read things I don’t like. I’ll just stop in the middle if it’s not working out for me. If the story has been mediocre so far, I see no reason to suppose the writer will nail the ending, so I just bail. I’ve read some pretty horrible stuff, but the ones I listed are things that I read through because they came highly recommended. Some very highly recommended. What books would you recommend. (No classics please. They’re classics because Time itself recommends them.)

Without patronizing (please don’t think I’d do that), lets play a hypothetical. Suppose you have a protagonist who has problems, and desires. By the end of the story, you need your protagonist to overcome her problems and achieve her goals. Now, it’s hard because you don’t yet know how she’ll do that. But you develop a plan, or at least come up with a few things for her to try. You insert try-fail cycles. New challenges arise. But since you’re the writer, you know that in the end everything will work out. You’ve decided what kind of character development your protagonist needs, and how it will help her overcome her challenges and reach her goals. And she lives happily ever after (until the sequel).

Okay, so I normally hate Adam Sandler, but Bedtime Stories was pretty okay. At least the theme that you write your own stories was a good one, even if it was told in a ridiculous way.

I guess my point is that if you can solve problems for your characters, you can solve problems for yourself, too. Maybe you don’t know the solution. So find out. Or ask someone else for advice. Ugh (that’s frustration with myself). You know these things, so I don’t know why I’m saying them. Your problems are not insurmountable.

About the video… the point I was hoping you’d see is that as an artist, you don’t write for an audience, but create an audience. At least that was one of the points. I don’t know why I’m still rambling on. I’m probably still sounding condescending, and I don’t mean to, but I’m too lazy to back up now. So have some words.

Thanks for being patient with me. See you Thursday.

See, this is why I got out of the recommending business, because I'm quite fond of David Weber, so we clearly don't mesh there. As for making things obvious, I'm sorry but it doesn't. You listed the two main types of guest posts without giving any further information and I'm rather stuck for what you wanted me to conclude from that.

Yes, I do need my protagonists to overcome their problems and reach their goals, but once again, fiction and reality are different. In fiction, I must solve the problems within a certain length of time or risk losing my readers' attention, and I have some control over the circumstances of the world. Reality is under no such constraints. People can and do spend their entire lives banging their heads against the same brick walls without ever seeing the door three feet to their right.

As for asking someone else for advice, what do you think I was doing in this post? And your only contribution so far -- apologies if you'll need more aloe after this, but tell me if I'm wrong -- seems to have been greeting my every suggestion with "Oh, that won't work." Telling me to create an audience is all very well, but how, in the most concrete terms, do I get the message out to that audience that my books exist? That's what I'm looking for suggestions on doing. I appreciate very much that you want me to believe in myself, but all the belief in the world won't magically make my books appear on shelves where people can see them.

As though faith in one’s self were some magical balm! I’m sorry, let me be explicit. For now, just focus on doing what you do best, and becoming better at it: writing. Don’t worry about marketing right now.

As for “guest blogging”… I understand the forms have a bit of overlap, but essays and blogs are different things. Musing on your own blog is fine and expected. Kinda what it’s for. Musing on someone else’s… I think your instinct is right, that it’s intrusive. Personally, I hate it when I see that. I’ve yet to read one. And can you imagine going to someone else and saying “Will you interview me for your blog?” What? Seriously? Why not “Can I interview you for my blog?” Isn’t that more natural? And then since you’ve interviewed them, they’ll post the link on their blog, too. And maybe even return the favor.

Again, "focus on writing and don't worry about marketing" is a nice thing to say, but I'm afraid I'm just not altruistic enough to continue indefinitely giving years of my life and pieces of my heart to projects which fewer than a hundred people in the world ever see or care about. Point taken about guest essay-entries on blogs, but who in the world would I ask to interview? I don't read any authors who would be amenable to such requests from someone like me.

Networking. You’ll hear it a lot. It doesn’t mean what it sounds like it means. Well, it means that, too, but it means a lot more than that. I’m not even going to try and explain. But advise is free: get to know people at similar points in their careers. Starting or joining a writing group is a great way to do this. It doesn’t even have to meet in person. Second, figure out how to talk about yourself. You’re a wildly successful fanfic author with tens of thousands of readers who is now trying to break into the published world. You have a certain degree of “micro-celeb” status. It’s okay to exaggerate it a little if you need to, but I think you’ll find you really don’t need to.

Third, talk about things you like. It’s something you regularly steer away from. Trust that people who come to your website are already interested. It’s okay to share who you are and what your interests are. Some people won’t share those interests. That’s okay. But if you share things that mean something to you, even if it’s just a witty video, you’ll find that people who like similar things will keep coming back. Never pretend to be something you’re not, and don’t be ashamed of who you are. You know this already, but you still shy away from sharing.

As for asking for interviews, it’s not as hard as it sounds. Browse some first time authors. Pick one you like. Until they’ve done it a hundred times, most people are flattered to be asked. The worst they can do is decline.

I feel kinda terrible spelling things out like this, because it puts the cart before the horse. These aren’t tricks and gimmicks for “breaking out”. They’re just ways to be you and express who you are. Anne, I like who you are. I could see it in your writing. Others can, too.

Would you like help?

*small sigh* Perhaps. Shall discuss in another venue.